


Shadows Where We Meet

by carpemermaid



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Banter, Drama, Hogwarts Eighth Year, M/M, Making Out, Post-War, Remix, Romance, Secret Relationship, Snogging, Young Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-28
Updated: 2017-05-28
Packaged: 2018-10-17 11:58:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10593558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carpemermaid/pseuds/carpemermaid
Summary: Their secret relationship is starting to be a point of contention for Harry when he tires of faking fights with his boyfriend. [Remixed fromDark Doo Wopbycreole_toile]





	

**Author's Note:**

> **Disclaimer:** Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended. This work was inspired by [Creole_Toile’s fanart](http://creole-toile.livejournal.com/3542.html) for the 2017 [HD_Remix](http://hd-remix.livejournal.com/) fest.  
>  **Author's Notes** : Wow, so this was actually a lot more of a challenge than I expected to remix someone else’s creation! I kept going back and forth on how I wanted to approach this idea in the story I saw in the art I picked. What stuck out the most to me was how tender their expressions are and my mind immediately jumped to “secret relationship” and “just had to pretend to have a fight”. This also started off in one direction and then these boys wanted to veer off in another. Creole, I hope you enjoy this! I admire your artwork so much, and I was thrilled when I saw that you were my assignment! I swooned all over again looking through your art to pick which work to remix.

Their angry shouts echoed in the corridor along with the hurried slapping of first year’s feet running around the corner for help.

“They’re gone.”

Harry huffed out a breath as he slouched against the cool stone wall, the coil of tension draining from his body. He watched through his lashes as Draco’s aggressive sneer softened into something only for his eyes. The tight hold he had on Harry’s shirt loosened as he stepped closer into Harry’s personal space.

Harry tilted his head down and smiled faintly when he felt Draco pressing his face into his hair. His lips parted on a content sigh when Draco nuzzled against him affectionately.

“I hate sneaking around like this,” Harry murmured.

They’d been dating for a few months, but even with the end of their eighth year coming to a close, Draco still insisted on keeping their meetings clandestine and putting on the ruse of their old rivalry to avoid gossip. Harry was getting tired of having to pick fights with his boyfriend and ending up in detention for his effort. He couldn’t bear McGonagall’s disappointed expression every time she caught them pretending to fight. He knew Draco hated it just as much, but he would never admit to actually wanting to be so soppy with Harry in public, holding his hand and stealing kisses.

Draco liked to crow that the only benefit to being known as his boyfriend in public would be so that he could stake his claim and lord the glory of his title over the other would-be suitors who liked to try their luck with Harry. Harry always rolled his eyes at that, reminding Draco that he just wanted to be able to kiss his boyfriend in public, or go down to the pub together on Hogsmeade weekends.

Draco’s long fingers released his shirt and skated lightly over his skin, stroking down his stomach absently. It brought Harry out of his head. Draco pressed a kiss to Harry’s forehead.

“I know.” Draco tilted Harry’s head up by his chin and kissed him.

Harry melted into it, bringing one hand around to slide up Draco’s arm into the sleeve of his cloak. Draco licked into his mouth teasingly, pressing him back further into the wall. He nipped Harry’s lip and slid his palm up Harry’s chest under his shirt. He broke away from the kiss to lick a stripe up his neck and breathe hotly into his ear.

“So, what’ll it be tonight, Potter? Classroom Three on the fourth floor, or down by the lake? We could sneak out and get a room in Hogsmeade if we’re feeling adventurous,” Draco said in a husky voice that always made Harry shiver with delight.

Harry tilted his head back against the wall to look up at Draco with a challenging gaze. He draped his arms around his neck and tugged him closer so that their lips were brushing together.

“Why don’t I use my Invisibility Cloak to sneak into your dorm? We wouldn’t have to worry about rushing. It would save us the hassle of sneaking around the castle or getting caught by McGonagall for leaving the school grounds,” he reasoned. “You know, she doesn’t care that the end of term is only a few more weeks away, she’ll have us here mucking out bathrooms with Filch until the next term.”

Draco smirked, sliding his hands down Harry’s sides to settle on his hips. “You drive a hard bargain, Potter.”

“I’ll only come on one condition though,” Harry added, making a snap decision.

“Oh, and what’s that?” Draco inquired in an amused tone, his voice light and breathy as he tried to distract Harry with gentle, biting kisses along his jaw.

“I’m done with this whole act,” Harry stated.

His words had their desired effect. Draco shot back from Harry so quickly that he worried Draco had strained a muscle. His face went through several emotions too quickly for Harry to read before a cool, stony mask settled into place. His eyes had gone from molten silver to a steely gray.

“Is that so,” he said flatly.

“Yes,” Harry agreed, jutting his chin up defiantly. “I’m done with being your secret, and with you being mine. I don’t care what anyone says about it, I want to be able to sit with you at meals in the Great Hall and include you when I hang out with Ron and Hermione.”

Draco’s brows creased and he dropped his eyes away from Harry.

“I don’t want to have to deal with any of the backlash, Potter. I thought you would… I’ve explained this to you multiple times,” Draco said in an agitated tone. He sighed heavily and ran a hand carelessly through his perfectly coiffed hair, mussing it up. “People barely accepted me returning to complete my N.E.W.T.s as it is. I had planned to move to France after the exams are over. I would be able to start fresh there.”

Harry’s heart clenched and skipped a beat. That was news to him.

“How long have you been planning that?” He was proud of himself for keeping his voice as steady as possible, hoping Draco didn’t pick up on the way it wavered slightly.

“Since the Wizengamot trials,” Draco admitted, unable to meet Harry’s eyes. “Before…before this.”

“Were you going to tell me?”

Draco hesitated for one moment too long. Harry made a frustrated noise in the back of his throat.

“So this whole time you’ve just been stringing me along? What, so you hope you’ll shag me and mess around a bit, and then once it’s all over you can go on your merry way?” Harry felt bitter anger burning and boiling in the pit of his stomach. “Why are you even insisting on keeping this a secret then? Is it so that I won’t prevent you from finding a pure-blood wife to marry and pop out perfect little heirs for you?”

“I just don’t have any opportunities here, that’s all,” Draco bit out, holding his hands out in a placating gesture. “Harry, look—”

“No, I really want to hear more about this. You see, apparently we’ve been on wildly different pages this entire time. While I’ve been slowly falling for what I thought was the real you, out from under your father’s thumb, you’ve just been messing around with me.” Harry thrust himself away from the wall and advanced into Draco’s personal space, growling fiercely under his breath. “If you only wanted to fuck me, you should have just said. We could have saved ourselves a world of trouble if we’d kept things casual instead of starting a relationship.”

Draco looked shocked and alarmed for a brief moment before he glared back at Harry challengingly.

“Why do you always have to be such a heartless prick, Malfoy?”

“Oh for the love of—”

Draco cut himself off and wrapped his arms tightly around Harry’s waist, crushing his body to the hard planes of his chest. He captured his lips in a nearly vicious kiss that was more teeth than anything else. Harry fought against him, giving as good as he got. He felt the sharp sting of teeth splitting his lip and he retaliated by biting down on Draco’s tongue, delighting in the pained, surprised yelp it earned him. Draco wrestled him back against the wall, his hands heavy on Harry’s hips, pinning them there and using his height to his advantage.

Draco broke their ferocious battle of a kiss. His eyes were bright and flinty, and they were both panting. He brought one hand up to tenderly brush his lip, a complete contrast to how he’d kissed him a moment ago. Harry winced when he touched the cut. Both of them looked at his blood staining Draco’s pale fingertip.

“You barmy arsehole,” Draco finally said after several quiet beats where the only noise in the corridor was their uneven breathing. “Why don’t you ever just listen instead of jumping to conclusions?”

“It’s kept me alive this long.” Harry shrugged unapologetically.

Draco rolled his eyes and his lips twitched into an affectionate smirk, so different from the way he used to smirk at him for years with malice and superiority.

“Idiotic, reckless Gryffindor,” he muttered. “Now, are you going to listen, or do I have to _Incarcerus_ you?”

Harry quirked an eyebrow expectantly. Draco huffed out a breath and crossed his arms over his chest, meeting Harry’s eyes with a defiant, haughty look.

“Now, before you so stubbornly jumped to your own conclusion, I was going to explain that before I knew we could have this thing we have, I was quite set on my plans to move out of Britain,” Draco explained. He paused to consider his words before continuing. “I expected you to tire of this arrangement. You were always just a fantasy for me, so when we figured out that snogging was better than fighting with our fists, I kept at it under the assumption it would fizzle out after we both lost interest.”

“Draco…” Before Harry could continue Draco waved him off with a hand. He looked away and when he met Harry’s eyes again his gaze had gone soft around the edges.

“You were such a surprise. I didn’t expect you to be anything more than a teenage romp to sate my fantasy. I didn’t know that we were so…compatible,” Draco said softly.

Harry’s stomach swooped pleasantly and he shifted closer into Draco’s personal space, listening intently. Draco’s arms circled loosely around his waist, brushing absently at his back and playing with the hem of his flannel.

“It’s why it’s been so hard for me to want to hide this from everyone,” Draco continued. “You have no idea how much I want to race to the top of the Astronomy Tower and shout at the top of my lungs that I…that I’ve…”

He trailed off and Harry held his breath, his heart hammering in his chest. He tucked his face against Draco’s neck to hide the heated flush of his cheeks. He’d been wrong, he hoped. He bit his lip and risked leaning back to study Draco’s face. Draco was blushing and his hands were clenched in the fabric of Harry’s shirt at the small of his back.

“That you’ve…?” Harry prompted in a soft voice, holding his breath and hoping that Draco meant he felt the same as Harry did about their relationship.

Draco swallowed thickly. Harry’s eyes tracked the bob of his throat before darting back up to admire the ruddy flush of his cheeks. Draco cleared his throat and nodded once, seemingly to himself.

“I might be falling in love with you, Harry,” Draco admitted, his expression a tightly controlled mask but emotion shining in his eyes. “And I don’t know where that might leave my plans after the term.”

Harry’s face lit up as his heart soared. He laughed once and threw his arms around Draco’s neck, pulling him in for a tender, excited kiss. He made a sound when Draco immediately kissed him back, his tongue swiping over his bloody lip in apology. Harry pulled back a fraction to mutter against his lips.

“You’re a bloody pain in the arse.”

“Likewise, Potter,” Draco shot back before angling his head to kiss him deeper.

An impatient throat clearing broke through the haze of their heady kiss. They both startled apart and stared at each other with wide eyes, frozen in place in the middle of a dusty corridor near the Charms classroom. Harry swallowed and braved looking first, turning his head.

His stomach dropped when he saw McGonagall standing there with her arms crossed and her expression hard.

“Tell me, gentlemen, is there a reason why you are both not in your classrooms and instead engaging in unapproved student behaviour in the middle of this hallway?” McGonagall’s accented brogue was thick and frosty, her words clipped in a way that made Harry snap to attention.

“Er, Professor, we—that is, Draco and I—er,” Harry stammered, rubbing the back of his head nervously. She still had that effect on him, even after everything. She made him feel eleven all over again.

“Very well said, Potter,” Draco muttered. “Professor McGonagall we were just on our way to classes now.”

McGonagall raised an unimpressed eyebrow. “Do not let me catch you in these halls like this again, gentlemen. You may be considered adults in the eyes of our society, but do not think for a second you are exempt from abiding the regulations set for Hogwarts students.”

“Yes, Professor,” Harry agreed quickly.

He reached down without much thought and grabbed Draco’s hand to drag him off in the direction of the Charms classroom, avoiding McGonagall’s piercing gaze. As soon as they rounded the corner Harry pulled them up short.

“Fancy skiving off to discuss this matter further in your dormitory?” Harry asked in a mischievous lilt.

“You really do get away with breaking all the rules, don’t you?” Draco mused as Harry laughed and tugged him towards the Slytherin dungeons.

**Author's Note:**

> [Fic headers](http://hd-remix.tumblr.com/post/160490393449/remix-for-creole-toile-shadows-where-we-meet) and a [pull quote](http://hd-remix.tumblr.com/post/160635131641/so-whatll-it-be-tonight-potter-classroom) have been cross-posted to tumblr. Help us promote the fest by liking and reblogging!


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